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AN    HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE 


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Rev.    TALBOT    W.   CHAMBERS,    D.D.,    LL.D. 

ONE  OF  THB  MINISTERS   OP  THE  COLLEGIATE  CHURCH 


©ditacrcb  ^^lunbap  J!iaornin{j,  /^ebruariP  20,  1887 


MIDDLE    DUTCH    CHURCH 

LAFAYETTE    PLACE 

NEW  YORK 


IN  VIEW  OF 


%\^z  asemotal  of  tl^at  OBuiitiins 


PUBLISHED  BY  ORDER  OF  THE  CONSISTORY 


GILLISS    BROTHERS    &    TURNURE 
THE  ART   AGE    PRESS 
400  i"402  WEST   14TH  STREET,  N. 


AN    unusually  large   audience    was    gathered    to   hear 
this    discourse,    not    a    few    having   come    from    a 
distance  to  worship  once  more    in  the  old  church. 
The   order   for   the  Morning   Service    at    present  pre- 
vailing in  the  Collegiate  Churches  was  observed  through- 
out   the    service,    and     it     has     been    thought    desirable 
to  record  the  same  in  connection  with  the  discourse. 

The  last  services  in  the  church  were  held  on  Sun- 
day, February  27th.  At  the  Morning  Service  on  that 
day  the  Lord's  Supper  was  administered  to  a  large 
congregation. 


€)rtier  of  ^ertfce 


Anthem:  "God   is   a  Spirit,"  etc. 

The  Invocation  and  Lord's  Prayer 

The  Salutation 

The  Reading  of  the  Law 
Response 

The  Psalter:  Psalm  cxxxii. 
Gloria   Patri 

Lesson  from  the  Old  Testament  :  L  Kings,  viii.,  i-ii 
Gloria  in  Excelsis 

Lesson  from  the  New  Testament:  Rev.,  xxi.,  23-27; 

xxii.,  1-5 

Hymn:    No.  i.  "  Holy,  Holy,  Holy!  Lord  God  Almighty" 

HOLY,  Holy,  Holy !  Lord  God  Almighty  ! 
Early  in  the  morning  our  song  shall  rise  to  Thee : 
Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  merciful  and  mighty ; 
God  in  Three  Persons,  blessed  Trinity! 

Holy,  Holy,  Holy!   all  the  Saints  adore  Thee, 
Casting  down  their  golden  crowns  around  the  glassy  sea, 

Cherubim  and  seraphim  falling  down  before  Thee, 
Which  wert,  and  art,  and  evermore  shalt  be. 

Holy,  Holy,  Holy !   though  the  darkness  hide  Thee, 
Though  the  eye  of  sinful  man  Thy  glory  may  not  see, 

Only  Thou  art  Holy;   there  is  none  beside  Thee 
Perfect  in  power,  in  love,  and  purity. 

Holy,  Holy,  Holy!   Lord  God  Almighty! 

All  Thy  works  shall  praise  Thy  name,  in  earth  and  sky  and  sea : 
Holy,  Holy,  Holy!  merciful  and  mighty; 

God  in  Three  Persons,  Blessed   Trinity!     Amen. 


Immediately  after  this  hymn  the  Minister,   following  according  to  his  custom  an 
old  usage  of  the  church,  delivered  the 

Exordium  Remotum 

as  follows : 

<  <  T  N  the  first  year  of  my  ministry,  and  before  my  ordination, 
X  while  staying  at  the  house  of  one  of  the  elders,  I  hap- 
pened to  see  a  sermon  lying  on  the  table,  which,  upon 
examination,  turned  out  to  be  a  discourse  delivered  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Knox  at  the  dedication  of  this  place  of  worship. 
My  attention  was  at  once  arrested ;  because  I  knew  him 
personally,  because  he  had  been  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  a 
county  adjoining  the  one  in  which  I  first  saw  the  light,  and 
because  a  few  months  before  I  had  heard  him  at  the  house 
of  a  friend  speak  of  the  solidity  of  this  granite  edifice.  But 
the  last  thought  to  enter  my  mind  then  was  that  after  the 
lapse  of  so  many  years  I  should  be  present  here  to  pronounce 
the  closing  discourse,  corresponding  to  the  opening  one  which 
he  pronounced  in  1839.  Yet  so  it  has  come  to  pass,  and  this 
is  the  purpose  for  which  we  have  assembled  this  morning. 
In  view  of  the  theme,  I  trust  that  you  will  allow  me  to  tax 
your  time  and  attention  somewhat  longer  than  has  been 
usual." 

Prayer 


Hymn:    No.  559. ''I  Love  Thy  Kingdom,  Lord" 


I    LOVE  Thy  kingdom.  Lord, 
The   house  of   Thine   abode, 
The  church  our  blest  Redeemer 
saved 
With  His  own  precious  blood. 

I  love  Thy  church,  O  God  i 
Her  walls  before  Thee  stand, 

Dear  as  the  apple  of  Thine  eye. 
And  graven  on  Thy  hand. 


If  e'er  my  heart  forget 

Her  welfare  or  her  woe. 
Let  every  joy  this  heart  forsake. 

And  every  grief  o'erflow. 

For  her  my  tears  shall  fall. 
For  tfef  my  prayers  ascend  ; 

To    her    my    cares    and  toils    be 
given 
Till  toils  and  cares  shall  end. 


Offerings 


Sermon 
Prayer 
doxology 
Benediction 


THE   HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE. 


Lord,  I  love  the  habitation  of  thy  house, 
And  the  place  where  thy  glory  dwelleth. 

Ps.  xxvi.  8.  (Rev.  Ver.) 

THE  Psalm  containing  the  text  is  peculiar  as  being  not 
so  much  a  confession  of  sin  as  a  protestation  of  in- 
nocence. The  singer  asks  and  hopes  not  to  be 
treated  as  the  wicked  because  he  is  unlike  them ;  he  has  not 
chosen  their  fellowship  nor  frequented  their  companies,  but 
on  the  contrary  washes  his  hands  in  innocency  and  delights 
in  the  congregations  of  the  Lord.  Such  claims,  however, 
are  not  assertions  of  human  merit  but  rather  acknowledg- 
ments of  the  divine  loving  kindness  which  was  ever  before 
David's  eyes.  The  New  Testament  counterpart  of  the 
utterance  is  found  in  the  Apostle's  solemn  declaration  (II. 
Cor.  ii.  12),  ''For  our  glorying  is  this,  the  testimony  of  our 
conscience,  that  in  holiness  and  sincerity  of  God,  not  in 
fleshly  wisdom  but  in  the  grace  of  God  we  behaved  our- 
selves in  the  world."  There  are  times  when  he  who  is  but 
dust  and  ashes  before  God  may,  or  even  must,  assert  the 
general  integrity  of  his  life  and  the  conscious  uprightness  of 
his  heart. 

In  the  text  the  singer  declares  his  attachment  to  the  or- 
dinances of  worship.  The  Revised  Version  brings  out  the 
full  sense  of  the  words,  which  is  not  only  that  he  has  loved, 
but  that  he  still  continues  to  love  the  Lord's  house.  It  is 
an  abiding  characteristic.  And  the  great  reason  of  this 
affection  for  the  place  is  that  there  the  glory  of  Jehovah 
dwells.  That  glory,  the  visible  manifestation  of  the  divine 
presence,  took  up  its  abode  on  the  mercy  seat  in  the  Holy 
of  Holies,  and  the  devout  worshipper  knew  that  when  he 


8  FIFTY   YEARS    OF   CHURCH    LIFE 

came  to  the  temple,  he  had  communion  with  the  living  God. 
The  ordinary  name  for  the  sanctuary  was  the  Tent  OF 
Meeting,  a  name  which  indicates  its  peculiar  use  accord- 
ing to  the  promise,  "  There  will  I  meet  with  the  children  of 
Israel,  and  t/ie  Tent  shall  be  sanctified  by  my  glory."  (Ex. 
xxix.  43).  Hence  the  devout  and  earnest  desire  of  God's 
people  for  the  enjoyment  of  this  privilege  as  we  find  it 
often  expressed  in  the  Psalter : 

I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me, 

Let  us  go  unto  the  house  of  the  Lord,  (cxxii.,  i.) 

How  amiable  are  thy  tabernacles,  O  Lord  of  hosts ! 

My  soul  longeth,  yea,  even  fainteth  for  the  courts  of  the  Lord.  (Ixxxiv.,  i.) 

The  same  experience  was  renewed  under  the  Christian 
dispensation.  It  is  true  there  was  then  no  longer  one  cen- 
tral place  of  worship  to  which  all  the  tribes  should  go  up,  as 
indeed  there  could  not  be  when  the  Church  had  spread 
itself  from  the  River  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  But  pro- 
vision was  made  for  this  state  of  things.  Isaiah  declared 
(iv.  4),  that  in  the  latter  days  the  Lord  would  create  over 
the  whole  habitation  of  Mount  Zion  and  over  her  assem- 
blies, a  cloud  and  smoke  by  day,  and  the  shining  of  a  flam- 
ing fire  by  night.  No  longer  should  these  striking  insignia 
of  God's  presence  be  confined  to  a  single  locality,  but  they 
should  pervade  the  whole  extent  of  the  Church.  The  full 
substance  of  this  blessed  promise  is  given  in  the  brief  and 
simple  words  of  our  Saviour — "  Where  two  or  three  are 
gathered  together  in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of 
them."  His  disciples  have  taken  him  at  his  word,  and  in 
every  age  have  sought  the  fulfillment  of  this  promise  by 
joint  worship,  whether  in  small  companies  or  large.  The 
earliest  heathen  account  of  them  (Pliny's  letter  to  Trajan) 
tells  of  their  regular  meetings  for  worship  on  a  stated  day. 
And  they  persevered  in  this  habit  even  when  it  was  at  the 
peril  of  liberty  or  life.  The  Catacombs  of  ancient  Rome, 
the  mountain  valleys  of  Piedmont,  the  dense  woods  of  the 
Netherlands,  the  scattered  refuges  of  the  Huguenot  Church 
of  the  Desert,  and  the  glens  of  Scotland  echoed  with  prayer 
and  praise  while  a  sentinel  was  constantly  on  the  watch  to 


IN    LAFAYETTE   PLACE,   NEW   YdRK  9 

sound  an  alarm  if  the  enemy  came  in  sight.  In  peaceful 
times  the  same  tendency  is  apparent.  Throughout  the  vast 
extent  of  our  own  country,  the  progress  of  population  has 
always  been  accompanied  by  means  and  appliances  for 
public  worship.  From  every  new  settlement  there  arises  a 
modest  spire  or  belfry  to  indicate  the  place  where  men  have 
erected  a  house  for  God,  and  propose  to  seek  his  face  and 
behold  his  glory.  Believers  have  learned  by  experience  that 
the  Lord  never  says  to  his  people,  Seek  ye  my  face,  in  vain. 
Often  amid  surroundings  as  rude  and  desolate  as  the  rocky 
plain  where  Jacob  laid  himself  down  to  sleep,  they  have  re- 
ceived such  disclosures  of  the  divine  love  and  faithfulness  as 
induced  them  to  exclaim  with  the  patriarch,  "  Surely  this  is 
none  other  than  the  house  of  God,  and  this  is  the  gate  of 
heaven."  Still  more  is  this  the  case  when  men  meet  in  a 
fitting  and  well-appointed  temple,  where  for  scores  of  years 
the  voice  of  prayer  and  praise  has  been  heard,  and  the  very 
walls  recall  a  thousand  tender  and  sacred  associations.  One 
cannot  but  think  of  the  holy  men  who  in  former  days  min- 
istered here ;  of  the  sainted  dead  who  nourished  their  relig- 
ious life,  of  the  young  whose  feet  were  taught  to  tread  the 
paths  of  wisdom  and  peace,  of  the  recent  converts  whose 
first  confession  of  Christ  was  made  in  this  place,  of  the 
countless  multitude  whose  earliest  religious  impressions 
date  back  to  the  time  when  they  occupied  these  seats. 
The  full  results  of  the  maintenance  <3f  a  house  of  worship 
where  the  word  and  ordinances  have  been  faithfully  admin- 
istered, never  can  be  known  on  earth  or  in  time,  but  must 
await  the  disclosures  of  the  great  day.  Still,  what  is  known 
is  of  such  a  character  as  to  awaken  profound  and  lasting  in- 
terest. And  it  is  not  possible  to  contemplate  the  abrupt 
sundering  of  these  ties  without  sadness  and  regret,  espe- 
cially when  the  edifice  is  to  be  removed,  and  the  place  that 
once  knew  it  is  to  know  it  no  more  forever.  Devout  wor- 
shippers feel  as  if  a  part  of  themselves  were  taken  away,  and 
an  immedicable  wound  inflicted  upon  their  sensibilities. 
The  house  endeared  to  them  by  memories  of  past  years, 
sometimes   running   back   to  childhood,  where   they  have 


lO  FIFTY    YEARS   OF   CHURCH    LIFE 

often  been  made  to  sit  in  heavenly  places,  where  they  have 
found  comfort  in  sorrow  and  strength  in  weakness,  where 
they  have  received  many  a  mighty  stimulus  in  the  Christian 
life,  is  to  pass  away  like  the  shifting  scenes  of  a  drama  and 
leave  not  a  trace  behind.  It  is  not  in  human  nature  to  be 
conscious  of  this  without  feeling  a  shock  and  a  pang. 

This  is  the  present  experience  of  many  of  you  whom  I 
address.  This  solid  and  stately  edifice  which  for  so  many 
years  has  been,  even  when  its  doors  were  closed,  a  mute 
witness  for  the  claims  of  God  in  the  heart  of  our  great 
metropolis,  and  which  in  its  day  has  been  so  effective  a 
factor  in  the  church  life  of  the  city,  is  to  be  taken  down  and 
the  ground  it  occupies  to  be  given  over  to  secular  uses. 
For  the  reasons  given  and  others  that  might  be  mentioned 
this  circumstance  is  to  you  a  very  painful  one.  It  could  not 
be  otherwise.  Let  us  see,  however,  if  there  are  not  things 
that  may  mitigate  the  sense  of  bereavement.  The  case  is 
not  unprecedented.  The  holy  and  beautiful  house  which 
Solomon  built  on  Moriah,  which  was  rich  beyond  calcula- 
tion and  was  honored  by  the  manifest  indwelling  of  the 
Most  High,  and  which  therefore  had  a  glory  the  like  of 
which  no  earthly  structure  ever  enjoyed,  was  utterly  de- 
stroyed, after  standing  for  centuries  and  accumulating 
through  successive  generations  a  store  of  sacred  associa- 
tions. When  the  time  came  in  the  providence  of  God  that 
its  purpose  was  accomplished  it  ceased  to  exist.  In  like 
manner  the  second  temple,  which  although  at  the  beginning 
a  feeble  reflection  of  the  first,  was  so  enlarged  and  adorned 
by  Herod  that  it  rivalled  in  splendor  the  proudest  fanes 
existing  elsewhere,  was  in  its  turn  razed  to  the  ground. 
The  Lord  Jesus  had  walked  in  its  porches,  had  twice 
cleansed  its  area,  and  often  taught  in  its  courts,  yet  none 
of  these  memories  saved  it  from  the  hand  of  the  destroyer. 
Even  as  He  predicted,  not  one  stone  was  left  upon  another. 
And  the  ground  was  still  further  desecrated  by  the  erection 
of  a  pagan  temple.  Now  both  these  destructions  were 
necessary  ;  one  to  preserve  a  godly  seed  by  transplanting 
it  for  seventy  years,  the  other  to  signalize  the  change  of  dis- 


IN  LAFAYETTE  PLACE,  NEW  YORK  II 

pensations  and  show  that  the  Church  was  no  longer  national 
and  local.  Both  were  very  painful  measures,  yet  both  ac- 
complished the  objects  aimed  at.  And  they  concur  to  show 
that  any  material  structure,  no  matter  how  solemnly  conse- 
crated to  God,  or  how  enriched  with  tokens  of  his  presence 
and  favor,  may  yet  come  into  such  a  condition  as  that  its 
removal  may  be  no  damage  to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  but 
rather  the  contrary. 

Appeal  may  be  made  in  like  manner  to  the  history  of  our 
own  city.  The  first  place  of  worship  on  this  island  was 
erected  in  1633,  and  since  then  scores  and  even  hundreds  of 
churches  have  been  built,  yet  of  all  these  now  existing  only 
one,  St.  Paul's  Chapel,  dates  back  to  a  period  anterior  to  the 
Revolution.  Indeed  not  a  few  have  had  their  beginning 
and  their  end  within  the  present  century.  Nor  may  we 
doubt  that  in  all  or  nearly  all  these  cases  there  was  a  great 
deal  of  reluctance  in  surrendering  an  old  and  honored  tem- 
ple of  worship.  The  trial  was  felt  to  be  very  sore.  Yet  the 
surrender  was  made.  It  was  done,  not  wantonly,  not  capri- 
ciously, but  simply  because  in  the  deliberate  judgment  of 
those  who  made  it  the  best  interests  alike  of  the  individual 
congregation  and  of  Christ's  cause  in  the  city,  required  that 
the  sacrifice  should  be  made.  The  peculiar  configuration  of 
the  island  upon  which  New  York  is  built,  no  doubt  has 
largely  contributed  to  this  result.  Yet  the  same  thing  has 
been  seen  in  other  cities  otherwise  situated.  For  example, 
a  few  months  since  in  Cincinnati  a  new  building  was  dedi- 
cated by  a  church  which  had  so  recently  as  185 1  erected  a 
"  splendid  edifice "  a  mile  or  two  distant,  in  what  at  the 
time  was  deemed  to  be  a  very  eligible  location.  Less  than 
forty  years  had  rendered  the  change  from  the  heart  of  the 
town  to  one  of  the  suburbs  an  absolute  necessity. 

Similar  was  the  state  of  things  here.  In  the  year  1769 
the  North  Church  was  erected  for  English  preaching.  For 
the  long  period  of  sixty-eight  years  from  that  time,  nothing 
was  done  in  the  way  of  providing  new  places  of  worship,  al- 
though the  subject  had  frequently  been  presented  to  the 
Consistory.    At  length  in  the  year  1836  it  was  found  that  so 


1,2  FIFTY   YEARS   OF  CHURCH    LIFE 

many  of  our  congregations  had  removed  their  residence  to  a 
considerable  distance  from  the  existing  churches,  that  it  was 
deemed  necessary  to  make  provision  for  them,  and  accord- 
ingly on  the  9th  of  November  in  that  year,  the  corner- 
stone of  this  house  was  laid  by  Dr.  John  Knox,  the  Senior 
Minister.  In  his  address  on  that  occasion  he  remarked,  "  A 
new  erection  in  this  part  of  the  city  has  been  called  for  by 
the  convenience  of  many  of  our  own  people,  thrust  out  of 
their  former  abodes  by  the  ever-encroaching  spirit  of 
commerce.  *  *  *  The  ploughshare  of  commerce  has 
broken  up  the  foundations  of  their  former  dwellings  in  the 
older  parts  of  the  city,  and  indeed  has  already  invaded 
places  greatly  hallowed  in  our  associations.  It  has  been 
called  for  by  the  state  of  this  particular  church,  if  she  will 
continue  to  sustain  her  wonted  numbers,  and  vigor  and  effi 
ciency — called  for  by  the  duty  which  we  owe  to  the  denomi- 
nation of  which  we  form  a  part."  These  words  are  true  and 
weighty.  They  justify  the  erection  then,  and  at  the  same 
time  explain  the  removal  now.  The  house  was  built  to 
meet  the  wants  of  a  definite  class  of  people  then  living  in 
the  neighborhood,  but  that  class  has  now  almost  disap- 
peared. Of  the  families  that  occupied  the  pews  when  the 
doors  were  opened,  not  one  remains.  Their  successors  have 
in  a  great  measure  followed  them.  And  the  regular  congre- 
gation now  is  not  larger  that  was  that  of  the  old  Middle 
Church  in  Nassau  street,  or  that  of  the  North  in  William 
street  when  they  were  closed.  It  may  then  with  reason 
be  said,  that  the  people  for  whom  the  structure  was  reared 
having  as  a  body  removed,  the  structure  itself  may  take  the 
same  course.  To  this  the  objection  is  sometimes  made  that 
the  existing  congregation  although  small  is  very  harmo- 
nious, spirited  and  active ;  that  in  proportion  to  its  numbers 
and  means  it  compares  favorably  with  the  others  of  our 
Communion ;  that  its  Sunday-school  and  Industrial  school 
are  carried  on  with  as  much  efficiency  and  success  as  at  any 
former  period  of  our  history,  and  that  therefore  it  would  be 
unwise  to  break  up  so  useful  an  organization.  The  answer 
is  that  no  such  dissolution  is  intended,  but  that  accommoda- 


IN    LAFAYETTE   PLACE,   NEW   YORK  13 

tions  have  been  provided  across  the  street,*  whither  the 
whole  plant  of  the  enterprise  will  be  transferred  at  once 
and  without  a  break.  It  is  true  that  the  missionary  workf 
carried  on  here  during  the  last  four  or  five  years,  has  not 
accomplished  the  end  aimed  at  so  far  as  respects  any  con- 
siderable increase  of  the  morning  congregation.  But  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  a  great  deal  of  good  has  been  done, 
that  many  young  people  have  been  brought  into  full  com- 
munion, and  that  a  restraining  and  elevating  influence  has 
been  exerted  upon  the  children  belonging  to  a  large 
number  of  families.  And  at  the  same  time  the  putting 
forth  of  these  efforts  has  been  a  great  blessing  to  all  of 
those,  old  or  young,  who  have  taken  part  in  this  excellent 
form  of  Christian  work.  In  watering  others  they  have  been 
watered  themselves.  But  it  is  hoped  and  believed  that  all 
this  can  be  continued  after  the  transfer.  The  place  will  be 
new  and  limited,  but  the  work  and  the  workers,  the  spirit 
and  the  aim,  will  be  just  what  they  have  been  for  years. 

But  let  us  return  to  the  past.  The  occasion  invites  us 
to  the  review  of  a  half-century — just  that  period  having 
elapsed  since  our  standard  was  planted  here.  Fifty  years  of 
church  life  !  The  period  is  small  compared  with  the  roll  of 
the  ages,  yet  how  much  is  involved  in  it !  The  building 
itself  is  a  creditable  monument  of  the  taste  of  a  former  gen- 
eration. It  was  designed  to  be  a  simple,  solid  structure 
that  would  endure  for  ages.  Its  exterior,  a  granite  of  a 
light  grayish  color,  and  its  octastyld^portico  of  monolith 
columns,  are  as  staunch  to-day  as  when  first  set  up.  The 
Ionic  front  resembling  that  of  the  temple  of  Erectheus,  a 
part  of  which  still  stands  on  the  summit  of  the  Athenian 

*  No.  14  Lafayette  Place. 

t  The  origin  of  this  work  is  as  follows  :  In  May  1882,  the  Consistory  appointed  a 
committee  "  to  seek  for  a  suitable  person  to  conduct  special  services  in  the  Middle 
Church,  and  to  perform  such  duties  as  may  from  time  to  time  be  required  of  him." 
This  was  intended  to  operate  upon  the  contiguous  population  of  non-church-going 
persons.  In  November  the  same  year,  the  Rev.  Henry  de  Vries  commenced  serv- 
ices under  the  direction  of  this  Committee,  and  continued  for  about  eighteen 
months  when  he  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Livingston  L.  Taylor,  who  still  acts 
as  the  missionarj'  of  the  church.  He  officiates  regularly  on  the  evening  of  the  Lord's 
day  and  on  Friday  evening,  and  also  renders  much  other  useful  service. 


14  FIFTY    YEARS   OF   CHURCH    LIFE 

Acropolis,  is  an  admirable  expression  of  classic  purity  and 
beauty.  Unfortunately  after  this  plan  had  been  adopted, 
there  were  those  who  could  not  endure  the  thought  of  a 
Christian  temple  without  a  steeple,  and  accordingly  one  was 
erected  admirably  fashioned  after  ancient  models  and  termi- 
nating in  a  lofty  and  well-proportioned  spire,  yet  so  incon- 
gruous with  the  style  of  the  building  and  so'  repugnant  to 
correct  principles  of  architecture,  that  it  was  felt  to  be  a 
great  relief  when  after  some  years  the  timbers  were  found 
to  be  so  decayed  that  it  had  to  be  removed.  The  interior 
of  the  edifice  well  corresponds  with  the  severe  simplicity  of 
the  outer  walls.  The  roof  is  a  single  span  sustained  without 
the  aid  of  columns,  and  the  ceiling  curved  and  enriched  with 
appropriate  panelings  which  radiate  from  a  central  star  en- 
closed in  a  triangle.  The  pews  are  arranged  in  a  circular 
form  so  as  to  bring  every  occupant  in  full  view  of  the 
speaker,  and  the  acoustics  of  the  building  are  such  that  no 
one  has  difificulty  in  hearing  what  is  said  from  the  pulpit. 
Indeed  the  audience-room  is  one  that  in  point  of  conven- 
ience for  Protestant  worship  has  not  been,  I  might  say  can- 
not be,  surpassed.  The  pulpit  of  white  statuary  marble,  de- 
signed with  simple  beauty,  is  a  fair  outward  expression  of 
the  purity  of  the  doctrine  which  they  who  use  it  are  ex- 
pected to  set  forth.  As  the  church  was  built  at  a  time  when 
men  did  not  feel  that  the  Creator  had  made  the  earth  large 
enough  to  spare  the  necessity  of  living  underground,  a  base- 
ment extends  under  the  whole  building,  intended  for  Sun- 
day-school and  other  purposes.  It  has  on  three  sides  a  deep 
and  wide  area  so  as  to  secure  ventilation,  as  well  as  a  sub- 
cellar  eleven  feet  in  depth,  and  yet  it  was  always  objection- 
able on  the  score  of  health  and  comfort,  although  hand- 
somely fitted  up  and  commodiously  arranged  for  church  uses. 
The  church  was  dedicated  on  the  9th  of  May,  i839,*Dr. 
Knox  preaching  the  sermon  *  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milledoler, 

*  This  discourse  was  printed  and  a  notice  of  it  in  the  Commercial  Advertiser  said 
that  it  sustains  the  reputation  its  author  has  so  long  enjoyed  for  sound  theological 
learning  and  enlightened  and  elevated  piety,  and  that  it  shows  the  catholicity  which 
has  always  distinguished  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church. 


o  < 

J 

X  ^ 

'J  u 

r-    h 
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IN    LAFAYETTE    PLACE,    NEW    YOkK  1 5 

one  of  the  former  ministers,  offering  the  dedicatory  prayer. 
It  was  very  soon  filled  with  worshippers,  and  so  continued 
for  many  years.  Indeed  the  pressure  for  seats  became  so 
great  that  in  1855  an  alteration  was  made,  removing  two 
stately  pillars  which  stood  on  either  side  of  the  main 
entrance  supporting  a  portion  of  the  steeple,  and  two  simi- 
lar columns  on  either  side  of  the  pulpit  sustaining  the  inte- 
rior entablature,  and  thus  a  number  of  additional  sittings 
were  secured.  At  this  time  the  church  stood  in  about  the 
centre  of  the  church-going  population  of  the  city,  and  it  was 
in  great  demand  not  only  for  its  own  people,  but  also  for 
union  meetings  and  the  anniversaries  of  various  religious  and 
charitable  societies.  Nine  ministers  have  ofificiated  in  this 
house — Drs.  Knox,  Brownlee,  De  Witt,  Vermilye,  Duryea, 
Ludlow,  Ormiston  and  Coe,  with  the  present  speaker.  The 
three  first  named  have  finished  their  course,  the  rest  still 
remain,  two  of  them,  however  (Drs.  Duryea  and  Ludlow), 
having  transferred  their  relation  to  other  ecclesiastical 
bodies.  The  preaching,  although  varied  in  consequence  of 
varying  personal  gifts  and  training,  has  always  been  sound 
in  doctrine  and  evangelical  in  spirit.  Of  the  three  departed 
worthies  I  may  say  that  the  hearers  of  the  first,  Dr.  Knox, 
sat  under  him  as  a  man  whose  practical  wisdom  and  perfect 
equipoise  of  character,  made  men  of  all  classes  in  need  of 
counsel  instinctively  resort  to  him  as  the  best  human  source 
of  direction  ;  that  Dr.  Brownlee's  glowing  rhetoric  and  argu- 
mentative force,  especially  in  all  phas^  of  the  controversy 
with  Rome,  made  him  always  a  power  in  the  pulpit ;  and 
that  Dr.  De  Witt  by  his  union  of  fervent  piety  with  an  un- 
studied but  soaring  eloquence  captivated  old  and  young, 
and  ofttimes  transported  his  hearers  to  the  third  heaven. 
All  three  of  these  venerated  men  were  buried  from  this 
church,  and  the  numbers  that  were  gathered  to  the  solemn 
service  testified  to  the  esteem  in  which  they  were  held. 
This  was  particularly  the  case  with  Dr.  Knox,  who  had 
grown  up  with  the  city  from  his  youth  in  18 16,  was  very 
widely  known  in  various  relations,  and*  was  suddenly  cut  off 
in  the  fullness  of  bodily  health   and   the   maturity  of   his 


l6  FIFTY   YEARS   OF  CHURCH   LIFE 

powers.  The  outpouring  of  all  classes  of  the  population  on 
the  occasion  was  something  wholly  unprecedented  and  is 
not  likely  to  occur  again,  for  the  city  is  too  large  for  any  one 
man  in  private  station  now  to  be  identified  with  all  its  social 
circles.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  last  time  that  Dr. 
Brownlee  officiated  in  public,  was  in  the  pulpit  where  I  now 
stand.  His  text  was  the  brief  utterance  in  Revelation  xx,  7: 
"  Behold,  I  come  quickly."  He  closed  an  impressive  and 
searching  discourse  with  the  words,  "And  who  will  be 
called  next,  you  or  I?"  They  seem  to  have  been  pro- 
phetic, for  on  the  next  day  or  the  day  after  that  he  went  to 
Newburgh  to  fulfill  a  pulpit  engagement,  and  while  he  was 
on  his  way  to  the  church  suddenly  sank  down  with  paralysis 
and  became  unconscious.  He  afterwards  recovered  and  his 
life  was  prolonged  for  many  years,  but  he  never  was  able  to 
resume  his  place  in  the  pulpit. 

The  Sunday-school  has  always  been  one  of  the  most  efifi- 
cient  factors  in  the  church's  life.  It  began  under  the 
superintendence  of  James  C.  Meeks,  at  that  time  the  New 
York  agent  of  the  American  S.  S.  Union,  a  man  of  rare  dis- 
cernment, tact  and  sympathy,  who  gave  himself  wholly  to 
the  work  and  attained  wonderful  success.  He  was  aided  by 
a  body  of  teachers  embracing  such  men  as  the  late  Chancel- 
lor Frelinghuysen,  and  Judge  Foote,  afterwards  of  Geneva. 
In  the  course  of  years  there  was  a  constant  though  gradual 
change  of  officers  and  teachers,  but  rarely  did  the  personnel 
fall  below  the  high  standard  set  at  the  beginning.  The 
School  was  conducted  on  the  old-fashioned  plan  of  relying 
for  success  upon  Biblical  teaching  and  the  personal  influence 
of  devoted  teachers.  Every  scholar  was  made  familiar  with 
the  Bible  and  taught  how  to  use  it,  and  the  only  premium 
ever  offered  was  a  pocket  copy  of  the  Book  of  books. 
Among  the  ladies  engaged  in  the  work  there  are  two  whose 
pre-eminence  in  character  and  devotion  was  such  as  to  re- 
quire specific  mention.  These  were  Mrs.  Charlotte  Peck 
Amerman  and  Miss  Esther  Sophia  Hyde.  For  a  long  period 
the  scholars  were  all  children  of  the  congregation  (save  a 
large  class  of  colored  people,  who  enjoyed  unusually  faith- 


IN    LAFAYETTE  PLACE,   NEW   YORK  I7 

ful  instruction),  but  now  for  twenty  years  they  have  all 
been  drawn  from  families  not  connected  with  any  Christian 
congregation.  A  large  infant  class  having  been  successfully 
maintained,  its  members  as  they  grew  in  years  were  from 
time  to  time  transferred  to  the  main  school  and  helped  to 
keep  its  ranks  full.  In  the  earlier  period  the  active  persons 
of  the  congregation  not  only  manned  their  own  school,  but 
also  cared  for  an  English  department  of  the  German  Evan- 
gelical Mission  School,  in  Houston  street,  there  being  at 
that  time  a  number  of  young  persons  there  who  preferred 
English  teaching.  The  late  Mr.  Calhoun  was,  while  his 
residence  remained  in  the  lower  part  of  the  town,  very  active 
in  forwarding  the  Houston  street  enterprise.  It  only 
remains  to  say  that  the  Sunday-school  taught  in  this  place 
is  as  efficient  as  at  any  former  period,  if  not  more  so, 
although  the  constant  diminution  of  the  congregation  dur- 
ing the  last  fifteen  years  has  materially  curtailed  the  funds 
required  to  carry  it  on.  Indeed  the  spirit  and  enterprise  of 
the  officers  and  teachers  leave  scarce  anything  to  desire, 
there  being  a  thorough  system,  entire  harmony  and  an  un- 
sparing consecration  of  time  and  energy  to  the  needs  of  the 
work. 

In  the  year  1861  there  was  established,  mainly  through 
the  efforts  of  Julia  Plummer  De  Witt,  the  youngest 
daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  T.  De  Witt  (aided  by  Miss  Cor- 
nelia L.  Brower,  afterwards  Mrs.  C.  H.  McCreery),  an 
Industrial  School  which  has  enjoyed  &n  exceptional  success 
through  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Every  year 
more  than  two  hundred  girls  were  here  taught  to  sew  and 
at  the  same  time  put  under  decided  religious  instruction. 
The  ladies  who  in  its  early  years  held  the  position  of  First 
Directress  were  wonderfully  well  qualified  for  the  work,  and 
they  established  habits  of  order,  regularity  and  fidelity, 
which  were  continued  without  any  interruption  and  which 
have  made  the  school  a  model  one  of  the  kind.  In  later 
years  the  diminished  size  of  the  congregation  rendered  it 
difficult  to  procure  enough  voluntary  teachers,  but  the  lib- 
erality of  some  friends  of  the  cause  enabled  the  managers 


l8  FIFTY   YEARS   OF   CHURCH   LIFE 

to  employ  paid  help.  Yet  even  with  this  aid  there  are  every 
year  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  applicants  denied  admission, 
simply  because  the  teaching  force  is  inadequate.  Great 
thoroughness  characterizes  all  the  methods  pursued  in  the 
school,  and  those  who  attend  it  receive  a  training  in  habits 
of  neatness,  system,  industry  and  order  which  cannot  fail  to 
affect  their  entire  subsequent  life.  Repeated  testimonies 
to  this  effect  have  been  given  by  the  children  themselves 
and  by  their  parents,  and  indeed  every  casual  visitor  has 
been  surprised  at  the  evident  tokens  of  success  which  met 
them  on  every  hand. 

Some  thirty  years  ago  when  the  success  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  of  this  city  led  to  the  forma- 
tion of  similar  associations  in  individual  churches,  a  society 
of  this  kind  was  instituted  here,  as  I  am  kindly  reminded 
by  Mr.  A.  A.  Raven,  of  Brooklyn,  who  at  that  time  was  one 
of  our  people.  This  association  provided  the  means  for 
employing  a  missionary  to  visit  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
church  and  gather  in  scholars  from  the  non-church-going 
part  of  the  community.  And  they  gave  personal  supervis- 
ion to  that  work.  They  performed  a  still  more  useful  and 
lasting  service  when  they  took  up  the  case  of  young  Mr. 
Merritt,  a  worshipper  in  the  North  Church  who  was  seeking 
to  enter  upon  studies  for  the  ministry  but  was  hindered  by 
the  lack  of  the  requisite  means.  These  were  obtained  by 
the  Association,  and  they  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  him 
carried  through  a  regular  course  after  which  he  prosecuted 
for  many  years  a  very  zealous  and  influential  ministry. 

This  building  has  never  been  the  scene  of  sensational 
preaching  or  tumultuous  excitement.  Yet  there  have  been 
times  when  the  Holy  Spirit  was  present  in  an  unusual 
degree,  as  was  manifested  by  the  increase  of  the  number  of 
those  who  sought  to  enter  into  the  full  communion  of  the 
church.  Such  periods  were  1841-2,  1858-9, 1865-6.  But  in 
general  the  work  carried  on  has  been  the  gradual  develop- 
ment of  Christian  character,  the  promotion  of  personal  and 
household  religion,  the  training  of  the  youth  of  the  congre- 
gation, and,  especially  in   later  years,  the   ingathering  of 


IN    LAFAYETTE   PLACE,    NEW   YORK  I9 

those  previously  neglectful  of  the  ordinances  of  worship. 
The  church  has  been  regarded  not  simply  as  a  converting 
agency  after  which  its  function  was  exhausted,  but  as  a 
training  school  in  which  character  is  formed,  and  men  and 
women  are  led  into  a  deeper  knowledge  of  divine  truth 
so  as  to  grow  in  consistency,  stability  and  symmetry  of  life, 
and  thus  become  more  efficient  in  the  Master's  service. 

The  contributions  of  the  congregation  to  the  Christian 
ministry  have  not  been  many,  yet  one  may  claim  that  the 
defect  in  quantity  is  made  up  in  quality.  I  mention  them  as 
nearly  as  may  be  in  the  order  of  time.  i.  The  Rev.  jAMES 
H.  M.  Knox,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  a  son  of  the  revered  senior 
minister,  who,  after  serving  acceptably  in  several  pastoral 
charges,  is  now  the  President  of  La  Fayette  College,  Pa., 
an  institution  of  great  and  growing  importance  in  the  edu- 
cational system  of  the  country.  2.  The  Rev.  ASHBEL 
Green  Vermilye,  a  son  of  the  present  senior  minister. 
He  was  pastor  at  Little  Falls,  Newburyport,  Utica  and 
Schenectady,  and  for  a  short  time  chaplain  at  Antwerp,  but 
has  of  late  years  ceased  from  regular  ministration  as  a 
pastor,  still,  however,  rendering  valuable  service  in  the 
Board  of  Direction  of  our  church  and  in  ecclesiastical  as- 
semblies. 3.  The  Rev.  Hervey  D.  Ganse,  who,  after 
prosecuting  a  most  useful  ministry  in  New  Jersey  and  after- 
ward in  this  city  and  in  St.  Louis,  is  now  the  secretary  of 
the  Presbyterian  Committee,  charged  with  the  care  of  their 
younger  and  struggling  collegiate  institutions  in  all  parts  of 
the  West,  an  enterprise  whose  value  is  determined  by  the 
fact  that  it  is  the  educated  men  who  are  to  control  this 
country,  and  that  the  way  in  which  they  exercise  this 
control  depends  greatly  upon  the  degree  and  kind  of  Chris- 
tian influence  put  forth  where  they  receive  their  education. 
One  cannot  well  conceive  of  a  work  so  well  calculated  as 
this  to  make  an  impression  for  good  that  shall  be  felt  by 
generations  yet  unborn.  4.  The  Rev.  NATHAN  W.  JONES. 
He  ministered  at  Cleveland,  Clove,  Middleport  and  Ding- 
man's  Ferry,  and  afterwards,  being  without  pastoral  charge, 
gave  much  attention  to  the  Indian  languages  of  our  country. 


20  FIFTY   YEARS   OF  CHURCH   LIFE 

He  died  about  1873.  5.  The  Rev.  Francis  N.  Zabriskie, 
D.D.  He  was  settled  in  New  York,  Coxsackie,  Ithaca  and 
Claverack,  and  afterwards  for  some  years  in  two  of  the  New 
England  States ;  and  when  laid  aside  from  regular  service 
by  impaired  health,  continued  and  enlarged  his  influence  by 
the  pen,  infusing  into  journalism  in  various  directions,  not 
only  Attic  salt,  but  the  salt  of  divine  grace.  6.  The  Rev.  J. 
Ferguson  Harris.  He  has  been  settled  at  Cold  Spring, 
Pompton  Plains,  Hurley  and  N.  Marbletown,  and  now  has 
charge  of  a  flourishing  church  at  Cherry  Hill,  N.  J.  7.  The 
Rev.  Andrew  M.  Arcularius,  of  New  Baltimore,  N.  Y. 
Born  in  another  communion,  he  came  in  early  years  into 
connection  with  the  Sunday-school  of  this  church,  and  after- 
ward entered  into  full  communion.  He  prosecuted  a 
regular  course  of  study  at  New  Brunswick,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  orders  in  1866.  For  twenty  years  he  has  been  in 
the  active  and  successful  discharge  of  ministerial  duties,  and 
is  now  pastor  of  an  interesting  charge  in  a  village  on  the 
upper  Hudson.  8.  The  Rev.  Matthew  C.  Julien.  Al- 
though reared  among  our  people,  he  has  from  the  beginning 
prosecuted  his  ministry  in  the  Congregational  Church, 
having  been  for  a  number  of  years  the  acceptable  pastor  of 
the  Trinitarian  Church  at  New  Bedford,  Mass.  9.  I  think 
that  there  may  be  properly  appended  to  this  list  the 
name  of  WiLLIAM  B.  Merritt.  He  indeed  was  never  a 
regular  worshipper  here,  yet  he  sustained  a  close  connection 
with  the  congregation.  In  his  youth  he  attended  the  North 
Church  and  there  confessed  Christ.  He  was  led  to  form  the 
purpose  to  enter  the  ministry.  His  means  being  limited, 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  this  church,  as 
has  already  been  stated,  undertook  to  supply  what  was 
wanting,  and  by  their  aid  he  was  carried  through  his  entire 
course  of  study.  After  being  licensed  by  the  Classis  of  New 
York,  in  1865,  he  became  pastor  of  the  church  at  Flatbush, 
Ulster  County,  where  he  labored  for  eight  years,  and  then 
was  settled  over  the  Union  Reformed  Church  of  this  city. 
Here  he  prosecuted  an  earnest  and  successful  ministry  until 
his  death,  in  1879.     Few  men  have  wrought  so  good  a  work 


IN  LAFAYETTE  PLACE.  NEW  YORK  21 

in  SO  short  a  time.  He  was  the  bemi  ideal  of  an  energetic 
pastor  and  was  respected  and  beloved  not  only  by  his  own 
people,  but  by  all  who  knew  him,  and  especially  by  his 
brethren  in  the  ministry. 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  look  back  over  the  course  of  the 
last  half-century  without  at  least  a  glance  at  the  changes 
that  period  has  wrought  in  the  face  of  the  globe.  In  Great 
Britain  it  coincides  with  the  reign  of  her  present  most 
gracious  Majesty,  during  which  the  principles  of  the  great 
Reform  Bill  enacted  in  1832  have  been  carried  out  almost 
to  their  extreme  limit,  and  the  situation  of  Ireland  has  been 
so  far  improved  that  there  needs  only  another  step  to  give 
all  the  liberty  that  has  been  contended  for.  A  correspond- 
ing development  has  taken  place  in  art,  literature  and  every 
branch  of  physics ;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  here- 
after the  Victorian  period  will  be  as  famous  in  British  an- 
nals as  the  Elizabethan  or  the  Age  of  Queen  Anne.  And 
as  to  the  colonies,  the  several  provinces  of  British  America 
have  been  made  into  the  one  Dominion  of  Canada,  and  the 
huge  island  or  rather  continent  in  the  Pacific,  once  known 
only  as  Botany  Bay,  a  mere  settlement  for  criminals,  has 
been  transformed  into  the  five  rich  provinces  of  North,  West 
and  South  Australia,  Queensland  and  New  South  Wales. 
France,  after  passing  through  a  prolonged  period  of  per- 
sonal government  under  Napoleon  III.,  has  settled  down 
into  a  republic  that  becomes  stronger  and  more  settled  day 
by  day.  Germany  and  Italy  are  no  longer  geographical  ex- 
pressions, but  the  states  of  the  former  are  confederated  into 
an  empire  stronger  than  was  seen  in  the  days  of  Charles  V., 
or  Barbarossa  ;  while  the  latter  from  the  Alps  to  the  sea  is 
united  under  a  real  constitutional  monarch.  The  tem- 
poral sovereignty  of  the  Pope  has  faded  away,  but  the  re- 
sults are  very  far  from  what  his  friends  feared  and  his  foes 
expected.  To  all  appearance  the  spiritual  control  of  the 
Papacy  is  as  thorough  and  absolute  as  ever.  Austria  has 
been  humbled  and  liberalized,  and  the  oppressed  Protestants 
of  the  continent  have  nearly  everywhere  regained  freedom 
of  worship.     The  rule  of  the  Ottoman  Turks  has  been  con- 


22  FIFTY   YEARS  OF   CHURCH    LIFE 

tracted  till  only  a  shadow  of  its  former  extent  remains,  and 
one  of  its  despised  provinces  (Bulgaria)  has  been  shown  to 
be  its  superior  in  all  that  constitutes  the  force  of  a  state. 
Europe  is  still  cursed  with  standing  armies  and  some  rem- 
nants of  feudal  bondage,  but  the  past  fifty  years  have  been 
years  of  progress. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  other  continents  of  the  Eastern 
Hemisphere.  In  Asia  the  immense  Indian  Peninsula  has 
passed  from  a  company's  control  and  become  a  fief  of  the 
crown  whose  authority,  by  the  complete  suppression  of  the 
Mutiny  of  1857,  l^as  been  established  for  an  indefinite 
period.  China  and  Japan  have  been  freed  from  their  seclu- 
sion, and  brought  into  the  family  of  nations  under  the 
acknowledged  control  of  internation  law.  Northwestern 
Asia,  by  the  successful  aggression  of  Russia,  alike  in  war 
and  in  peace,  has  been  semi-civilized.  Africa  has  undergone 
yet  greater  changes.  English  dominion  at  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  has  expanded  to  ten  times  its  original  size. 
Egypt  has  become  substantially  independent.  The  Suez 
Canal  has  revolutionized  the  routes  of  commerce  to  the 
East,  and  above  all,  the  vast  interior  has  been  explored  in 
nearly  every  direction,  and  the  erection  of  the  Congo  Free 
State  indicates  a  permanent  gain  of  this  wide  region  for 
civilization.  No  half  century,  no  century,  in  all  previous 
times,  has  shown  such  vast  and  far-reaching  changes  as  the 
last  fifty  years. 

One  of  the  most  marked  features  of  this  is  seen  in 
Christian  missions  to  the  heathen.  Men  now  living  well 
remember  when  the  greater  portion  of  the  world  was  inac- 
cessible. A  single  man  was  toiling  outside  the  only  port  of 
China.  Not  even  one  had  access  to  Japan.  Northern  India 
and  Siam  were  unoccupied.  Persia  and  Turkey  and  South 
America  had  just  been  entered.  Nothing  was  doing  in 
Egypt,  and  a  few  scattered  stations  were  established  along 
the  western  and  southern  coasts  of  Africa.  Now  almost 
the  whole  realm  of  heathenism  lies  open  to  the  Gospel, 
Explorations  in  the  interest  of  missions  have  illumined 
the  Dark  Continent  from  end  to  end.    Even  Mohammedan- 


IN    LAFAYETTE    PLACE,    NEW    YORK  2$ 

ism,  which  is  harder  to  reach,  because  it  is  always  allied 
with  the  State,  begins  to  show  signs  of  yielding.  And  the 
Church  has  gone  on  as  Providence  opened  the  way.  Fifty 
years  ago  there  were  in  all  Christendom  only  twenty-five 
foreign  missionary  societies  ;  now  there  arc  more  than  a  hun- 
dred, without  including  Bible  Societies  and  Tract  Societies 
and  Women's  Missions  and  independent  organizations.  And 
an  income,  which  was  little  more  than  half  a  million,  has 
grown  to  twelve  millions  annually.  Corresponding  has 
been  the  success.  Henry  Martyn  once  said  :  "  If  I  ever  see 
a  Hindu  Brahman  converted  to  Jesus  Christ,  I  shall  see 
something  more  nearly  approaching  the  resurrection  of  a 
dead  body  than  anything  I  have  ever  yet  seen."  In  1837 
the  first  Brahman  convert  was  ordained,  and  since  then  the 
"  resurrection  "  has  occurred  often.  Besides  the  great  work 
accomplished  in  the  translation  of  the  Bible,  the  issue  of  a 
Christian  literature,  the  establishment  of  schools,  seminaries 
and  colleges,  there  has  been  a  large  advance  in  the  number 
of  heathen  who  have  confessed  Christ.  In  1837  these  num- 
bered fifty  thousand  ;  now  a  sober  estimate  puts  them  at 
three  millions.  Foreign  missions  are  no  longer  an  experi- 
ment, still  less  a  romantic  dream  as  some  say.  Every 
evangelical  body  in  Christendom  has  put  its  hand  to  the 
work,  and  all  with  one  consent  rally  under  the  motto  of  the 
old  Latin  hymn  of  the  sixth  century,  vexilla  regis  prodcimt. 
Forward  the  royal  standards  go.  Yes,  forward,  ever  for- 
ward, and  not  backward.  Here  It  seems  to  me  that 
mention  may  be  made  of  the  Revised  Version  of  the 
English  Bible  as  a  great  step  in  advance.  Such  a  thing 
had  often  been  mooted,  and  indeed  attempted,  but  never 
by  a  catholic  movement,  originating  from  competent 
authority  and  carried  out  under  appropriate  regulations. 
Now  it  has  been  accomplished,  and  the  results  of  the  dis- 
coveries, explorations,  toils  and  criticism  of  more  than  two 
centuries  have  been  rendered  accessible  to  the  common 
English  reader.  The  work  is  not  perfect  and  may  even  be 
said  to  have  serious  drawbacks,  but  that  it  is  of  the  greatest 
usefulness  to  those  for  whom  it  was  intended  is  questioned 


24  FIFTY   YEARS  OF   CHURCH   LIFE 

by  no  competent  authority.  Even  if  it  never  supplants  the 
authorized  version  it  will  still  serve  the  purpose  of  a  cheap 
portable  commentary  to  millions  on  millions.  The  highest 
earthly  honor  ever  conferred  upon  me  was  that  of  being 
permitted  to  take  a  small  part  of  this  work  as  a  member  of 
the  American  Company  engaged  on  the  Old  Testament. 

Nor  is  our  own  city  or  country  any  exception  to  the  pre- 
vailing spirit  of  progress.  The  great  Civil  War  marks  for  us 
an  epoch  as  significant  as  Waterloo  or  Sedan  was  for  Europe. 
Every  day  shows  that  the  precious  treasure  and  still  more 
precious  blood  expended  in  that  conflict  were  a  cheap  price 
to  pay  for  the  beneficent  results  secured.  There  has  been  a 
steady  advance  in  population,  in  wealth,  in  agriculture,  in 
manufactures,  in  literature,  in  the  fine  arts  and  in  science, 
theoretical  and  applied.  Take  one  instance  touching  the 
matter  of  material  resources.  A  dozen  years  after  this 
church  was  dedicated  a  statesman  in  his  place  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States  said  that  he  thought  that  a  careful  but 
fair  administration  of  the  government  would  not  involve  an 
annual  expenditure  of  more  than  thirteen  millions.  Now 
that  sum  is  only  one-quarter  of  what  is  required  for  the 
post-ofiice  alone.  The  twenty-seven  States  of  1840  have 
become  thirty-eight,  the  territory  has  been  enlarged  by  at 
least  one-fourth  and  the  population  has  spread  from  one 
ocean  to  the  other.  And  nowhere  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
can  be  found  fifty-five  millions  of  people  so  richly  endowed 
with  all  that  ministers  to  human  peace,  comfort  and 
progress.  The  metropolis,  the  third  most  important  city 
in  the  civilized  world,  has  shared  largely  in  this  prosperity. 
The  population  has  increased  from  three  to  over  thirteen 
hundred  thousand.  Residences  which  when  this  church 
was  begun  had  hardly  reached  Fourth  street  have  now  gone 
miles  and  miles  beyond  it,  and  a  considerable  portion  of 
Westchester  County  has  been  included  in  the  corporate  lim- 
its of  the  city.  The  wretched  huts  which  covered  the  hills 
in  the  centre  of  the  island  have  given  place  to  the  Central 
Park,  with  its  lakes  and  statues  and  museum.  The  Cooper 
Union  trains  a  thousand  pupils  in  science  and   art  every 


IN    LAFAYETTE   PLACE,   NEW   YORK  2$ 

year.  The  Croton  water  has  been  introduced  into  every 
house.  The  Astor  Library  offers  its  treasures  to  every  vis- 
itor. The  public  schools  cover  the  city  with  a  system 
reaching  from  the  primary  class  to  the  baccalaureate,  and 
Columbia  College  has  expanded  into  an  university.  The 
telegraph  and  telephone,  the  express  companies  and  the 
multiplication  of  railways  and  steamships  have  made  this 
city  in  1887  altogether  another  thing  from  what  it  was  in 
1837.  Then  two-thirds  of  the  inhabitants  owned  the 
houses  they  lived  in ;  now  scarcely  one-third  does.  Then 
immigration  was  a  computable  element  ;  now  it  engrosses 
whole  sections  of  the  city.  Then  it  was  a  rare  thing  for  a 
church  to  be  built  of  other  than  brick  or  ordinary  stone  ; 
now  the  rarity  is  to  build  of  other  than  marble  or  brown 
stone.  Then  the  millionaires  could  be  counted  upon  the 
fingers  of  one  hand  ;  now  they  amount  to  hundreds,  while 
in  individual  cases  there  are  colossal  fortunes,  the  possibility 
of  which  to  a  former  generation  would  have  seemed  utterly 
incredible.  When  the  corner-stone  of  this  house  was  laid 
Dr.  Knox,  who  officiated,  remarked  that  "  The  position,  the 
wealth,  the  extended  intercourse,  the  power,  physical  and 
moral,  of  New  York  give  her  a  most  commanding  attitude. 
Nor  is  there  another  spot  on  our  vast  continent,  if  there 
is  upon  the  face  of  the  globe,  whose  influence  is  felt  more 
widely  and  deeply.  I  do  not  exaggerate  when  I  say  that 
probably  millions  of  immortal  beings  every  year  carry  with 
them  through  the  land  and  throughout  the  world  impres- 
sions of  good  or  of  evil  received  here."  These  significant 
words,  true  when  they  were  uttered,  are  still  more  true  now. 
As  it  was  said  of  old  every  road  leads  to  Rome,  so  now 
every  important  interest  in  the  land  gravitates  to  this  im- 
perial centre. 

What  now  is  to  be  said  as  we  turn  the  leaf  of  this  con- 
cluded chapter  in  our  church's  history?  I  call  it  concluded, 
for  while  as  has  been  said  the  services  so  long  maintained 
here  will  be  continued  elsewhere,  yet  it  will  be  in  new  re- 
lations and  with  a  more  distinctly  marked  mission  character. 
That  is,  the  aim  will  not  be  so  much  to  edify  and  develope 


26  FIFTY    YEARS   OF   CHURCH    LIFE 

the  existing  members  of  the  communion  and  draw  in  others 
of  the  hke  character  and  surroundings  as  to  intensify  the  ag- 
gressive aspect  of  the  enterprise,  to  carry  on  the  schools 
with  yet  more  vigor,  and  to  maintain  at  the  highest  point  all 
the  different  services,  societies  and  agencies,  which  now  act 
so  happily  upon  the  contiguous  population.  This  will 
render  prominent  what  hitherto  has  been  subordinate,  and 
make  the  life  of  the  concern  consist  in  an  aggressive  move- 
ment upon  the  immigrant  and  non-church-going  residents 
of  the  district.  The  aim  will  be  not  merely  to  minister  to 
the  wants  of  an  established  congregation,  but  rather  to 
gather  a  new  one  out  of  such  materials  as  may  be  found  at 
hand.  One  may  then  justly  speak  of  the  past  fifty  years  as 
a  finished  work.  This  building  was  put  here,  as  Dr.  Knox 
said  in  the  address  already  referred  to,  "  to  meet  the  wants 
of  the  community  and  the  obligations  under  which  we  lie 
to  do  our  share  in  purifying  and  preserving  this  great  city, 
and  sending  hence  a  healthful  influence  all  abroad."  Has 
this  object  been  accomplished  ?  Has  the  elegant  and  costly 
structure  fulfilled  the  expectations  of  those  who  erected  it? 
What  is  there  to  show  for  these  fifty  years  of  church  life  ? 
A  partial  answer  might  be  gotten  from  a  list  of  the  persons 
here  admitted  to  full  communion  from  time  to  time.  Yet, 
this  would  be  very  inadequate.  It  would  not  indicate  the 
effect  wrought  upon  existing  believers  in  confirming  their 
faith,  ripening  their  graces  and  extending  their  activities. 
It  would  not  show  the  effect  of  a  preached  gospel,  in  edu- 
cating conscience  and  forming  character,  even  among  those 
who  never  openly  confess  Christ.  It  would  not  reveal  the 
half  of  what  comes  from  the  teachings  and  influence  of  a  well- 
conducted  Sunday-school  or  an  Industrial  School.  It  would 
not  set  forth  the  restraining  power  exerted  by  the  Word  and 
ordinances  wherever  faithfully  ministered.  It  would  not 
give  any  information  as  to  the  spirit  of  benevolence  and  the 
deeds  of  self-denial  and  liberality  to  which  it  prompts.  Oh 
no,  the  full  results  of  a  single  congregation's  existence  and 
activity  are  to  be  seen  only  in  the  great  day  when  the  books 
are  opened  and  every  man's  account  is  to  be  reckoned. 


IN    LAFAYETTE    PLACE,    NEW    YORK  2/ 

But  \ve  do  know  even  now  that  this  church  has  been  a 
nursery  in  which  the  young  of  all  classes  have  been  tenderly 
and  carefully  nurtured  ;  a  school  in  which  the  beginners  of 
the  Christian  life  have  been  taught  and  trained  for  the  Mas- 
ter's use ;  a  vineyard  in  which  the  inexperienced  have  been 
fitted  to  labor  as  God's  fellow-workers  ;  a  home  where  the 
ties  of  Christian  affection  have  been  cemented  more  and 
more  firmly  ;  a  house  where  many  a  vessel  unto  honor  has 
been  chosen  and  sanctified  and  prepared  unto  every  good 
work.  Here  many  a  laden  conscience  has  been  relieved, many 
an  aching  heart  comforted,  many  a  mourner's  tears  wiped 
away,  and  many  an  erring  wanderer  reclaimed.  Besides, 
there  have  been  seasons  of  great  excitement,  social,  finan- 
cial, political,  ecclesiastical  and  religious,  which  of  course 
displayed  their  full  force  in  a  city  like  ours.  In  the  midst  of 
these  the  congregation  stood  as  firm  and  immovable  as  the 
granite  walls  of  the  material  edifice.  When  the  question 
of  slavery  convulsed  the  nation  no  place  was  allowed  to 
agitators  on  either  side,  but  pastors  and  people  rested  upon 
the  ground  taken  by  the  fathers,  until  the  tocsin  of  civil 
war  was  sounded,  and  then  the  whole  body  rallied  around 
the  flag  to  a  man,  and  there  was  no  abatement  of  zeal 
and  effort  in  the  pulpit  or  the  pew  until  the  final 
surrender  at  Appomattox.  The  year  in  which  the  cor- 
ner-stone was  laid  was  signalized  by  a  disruption  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  which  was  not  healed  for  a  generation, 
and  which  was  attended  by  much  bitter  controversy.  But 
the  church  here,  while  all  its  sympathies  were  with  sound- 
ness of  doctrine  and  the  maintenance  of  a  proper  polity,  re- 
fused to  swing  from  its  moorings  or  meddle  in  a  strife  not 
belonging  to  it,  believing,  as  the  result  showed,  that,  in 
ecclesiastical  as  in  household  broils,  the  parties  themselves 
can  effect  a  reconciliation  better  than  any  outsiders.  So  in 
periods  of  awakening,  memorably  the  one  which  occurred 
just  thirty  years  ago,  the  reliance  was  always  upon  the 
stated  means  of  grace,  which  at  that  time  meant  three 
services  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  a  lecture  and  also  a  prayer- 
meeting  during  the  week.     (Afterwards  the  two  latter  were 


28  FIFTY   YEARS   OF  CHURCH   LIFE 

combined  into  one,  as  was  done  by  nearly  all  the  evangelical 
churches,  on  the  ground  that  so  many  other  meetings  of  a 
religious  or  charitable  nature  were  held  that  the  claims  of 
an  individual  congregation  must  give  way  in  part  to  those 
of  the  general  cause  of  Christ.)  The  only  exceptions  I  can 
remember  were  when  prayer-meetings  were  appointed  at  a 
convenient  hour  in  the  afternoon,  sometimes  for  our  own 
people  alone,  at  others  in  connection  with  neighboring 
congregations.  Here  opportunity  was  afforded  for  such 
counsel  and  direction  as  was  needed,  and  at  the  same  time 
no  occasion  given  for  factitious  or  unwholesome  excite- 
ment; for  while  the  Church  is  undoubtedly  an  evangelistic 
agency,  this  is  very  far  from  being  its  only,  or  even  its  chief 
function.  Every  minister  is  indeed  a  herald,  but  the  aim 
of  his  office  is  as  the  apostle  declares,  "  for  the  perfecting 
of  the  saints,  unto  the  building  up  of  the  body  of  Christ." 
It  is  that  all  the  body,  according  to  the  working  in  due 
measure  of  each  several  part,  may  make  increase  unto  the 
building  up  of  itself  in  love.  The  development  of  the 
church,  its  growth  in  knowledge,  in  grace  and  in  con- 
sistency, its  completeness  as  an  organism,  its  steadiness  as  a 
moral  and  spiritual  force,  its  efficiency  toward  its  own 
members,  as  well  as  toward  them  that  are  without ;  these 
are  the  aims  proper  to  a  congregation  of  the  faithful.  And 
looking  back  over  the  half  century,  one  can  truly  say  that 
these  have  been  largely  attained,  alike  in  the  beginning,  in 
the  days  of  prosperity,  and  in  the  years  of  decline  in  num- 
bers and  resources. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  fifty  years  the  services 
here  were  conducted  by  all  the  pastors  in  turn — a  system 
which  Dr.  Knox,  in  his  dedicatory  discourse,  spoke  of  as 
"  calculated  to  secure  a  greater  variety  of  pulpit  talent,  and 
in  various  ways  a  moral  power  and  a  stability  greater  than 
can  easily  attach  to  a  separate  charge."  My  own  judgment 
confirms  this  opinion.  There  was  a  loss  in  abandoning  the 
organization  which  had  come  down  from  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  though  it  doubtless  is  impossible  to  restore  it, 
it  is  not  improper  now  that  all  personal  feeling  has  long 


IN  LAFAYETTE  PLACE,  NEW  YORK  29 

since  abated,  and  one  can  view  the  matter  in  the  dry  light 
of  reason,  to  express  a  regret  that  this  house  of  worship 
did  not  continue  to  have,  even  to  the  end,  the  varied  minis- 
trations which  it  enjoyed  during  the  first  thirty  years  of  its 
existence.  All  change  is  not  progress,  and  sometimes 
people  think  they  are  advancing  when  they  are  only  mark- 
ing time.  The  same  thing  may  be  said  of  another  alter- 
ation, which,  however,  was  made  in  the  face  of  a  protest 
from  our  Consistory,  viz.  :  the  dropping  of  the  word  Dutch 
from  our  denominational  name.  One  of  the  objections 
made  to  this  change  was  that  it  would  prepare  the  way  for 
the  absorption  of  our  Church  into  other  bodies.  This  was 
vehemently  denied.  Yet  within  ten  years  this  very  thing 
was  attempted  and  vigorously  urged,  but  by  God's  blessing 
thwarted.  At  this  moment  there  is  talk  of  another  union,* 
which,  however,  if  consummated,  would  still  leave  us  our 
standards,  our  polity,  even  our  ecclesiastical  nomenclature 
unaltered.  Meanwhile  the  Consistory  still  stands,  and,  I 
think,  will  continue  to  stand,  under  the  name  by  which  it 
obtained  its  charter  from  William  III.,  the  oldest  existing 
ecclesiastical  charter  on  this  continent — the  Reformed  Prot- 
estant Dutch  Church  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Others 
may  deride  or  disparage  the  national  portion  of  this  title, 
the  word  DuTCH.  But  to  us  it  is  precious,  as  representing 
one  of  the  brightest  pages  in  human  history,  sacred  or 
secular ;  as  a  symbol  of  heroism,  constancy  and  self-sacrifice 
that  have  never  been  surpassed.  Holland  is  a  very  small 
country  on  the  map  of  Europe.  So  is  Attica,  not  much 
larger  than  one  of  our  river  counties.  But  their  fame  has 
no  bounds,  and  will  have  no  end.  Indeed  we  may  say  of 
Holland's  repute,  that  it  constantly  increases.  Every  new 
historian  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  brings 
a  fresh  tribute  to  the  patriots  and  martyrs  of  the  Low 
Countries,  who  for  four  score  years  withstood  the  Emperor 

*  This  is  with  the  Reformed  (German)  Church  in  the  United  States.  Whereas 
the  absorption  into  the  Presbyterian  Church,  which  some  advocate,  would  in  the 
writer's  deliberate  judgment  be  an  unmitigated  calamity,  and  a  serious  injury  to  the 
general  cause  of  Christ. 


30  FIFTY   YEARS  OF  CHURCH   LIFE 

and  the  Inquisition,  and  after  achieving  freedom  for  them- 
selves, made  their  land  an  asylum  for  the  oppressed  of  all 
countries  and  every  name. 

On  the  coming  Lord's  day,  if  spared,  we  shall  sit  down 
for  the  last  time  at  the  table  of  the  Lord  in  this  sacred 
place.  There  is  something  touching  in  this  to  us  all,  how- 
ever recent  our  interest  here  may  have  been  ;  but  it  is  es- 
pecially so  to  such  as  have  had  no  other  church  home  than 
this,  or  have  been  for  years  identified  with  the  work  carried 
on  here.  But  we  may  get  profit  from  the  sadness  if  we  turn 
from  it  with  a  quickened  appreciation  of  the  blessing  to  that 
higher  home  to  which  no  change  ever  comes,  the  house  not 
made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.  This  is  an  inher- 
itance incorruptible,  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away. 
One  temple  after  another  on  the  earth  may  pass  away  amid 
tears  and  heart-burnings,  but  the  golden  streets  and  jasper 
walls  and  pearly  gates  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  are  like 
their  Maker  for  ever  and  ever.  That  holy  and  beautiful 
house  can  never  be  moved,  nor  can  they  who  once  enter  in, 
ever  be  taken  out  of  it. 


IN  LAFAYETTE  PLACE,  NEW  YORK  3! 


APPENDIX. 


I. — Letters  of  Reminiscence  from  the — 

1.  Rev.  James  H.  M.  Knox. 

2.  Rev.  ASHBEL  Green  Vermilye. 

3.  Rev.  Hervey  D,  Ganse. 

4.  Rev.  Francis  N.  Zabriskie. 

5.  Rev.  Andrew  M.  Arcularius. 

6.  Rev.  J.  Ferguson  Harris. 

11. — Ofifilcers  of  the  Schools. 
III. — The  Organists  and  Sextons. 
IV. — The  Corporation  in  1837. 

V. — The  Corporation  in  18&7. 


32  FIFTY   YEARS   OF  CHURCH    LIFE 


I. 

Letters  of  Reminiscence. 


I.  The  Rev.  A.  G.  Vermilye,  D.D. 

MY  knowledge  of  the  Fourth  Street  Church  began  in  1839,  when  my 
father  became  a  collegiate  pastor  and  I  a  Senior  in  the  New 
York  University.  I  united  with  that  church  on  profession,  but  after  the 
first  year  as  a  theological  student  was  only  an  occasional  hearer.  Still, 
I  remember  well  its  unique  white  marble  pulpit,  which  in  that  day  excited 
much  attention  ;  and  I  remember  well  the  men  who  in  turn  stood  behind 
it.  At  that  time  a  short  "  exordium  remotum "  was  customary,  the 
"  remotum  "  giving  all  needed  latitude  of  remark,  after  which  the  pastor 
would  say,  "  To  a  subject  connected  with  this  your  attention  will  be 
directed  this  morning."  Then  followed  the  prayer,  and  then  (after  sing- 
ing) the  sermon.  It  might  be  Dr.  Knox,  the  gray-haired  Senior,  plain 
and  practical  in  discourse,  without  a  particle  of  oratory,  but  whose  long 
pastorate  and  character,  his  kindly  nature  and  admirable  judgment,  gave 
him  influence  everywhere ;  or  Dr.  Brownlee,  with  his  black  wig,  large- 
eyed  gold  spectacles,  his  perceptible  Scotch  brogue  and  rotund  form,  who 
seldom  failed  to  give  due  notice  of  the  end  by  saying,  "  but,  my  hour  is 
up  " — his  hour  being  the  measure  not  of  his  power  of  (always  extempore) 
utterance,  but  as  he  judged  it,  of  a  people's  capacity  profitably  to  re- 
ceive truth — a  capacity  that  has  since  dwindled  to  minutes.  It  was 
always  pleasant  to  hear  something  of  what  he  had  been  reading  about 
during  the  week,  and  to  see  his  graceful  use  of  a  handsome  hand. 
Graceful  and  courteous  always,  when  he  went  through  the  streets  on 
Sunday  (as  the  ministers  then  did)  in  gown  and  bands  ;  if  he  passed  a 
Roman  Catholic  church  he  would  bow  right  and  left,  with  hat  off,  and 
the  people  would  say,  "  There  he  is ;  there  he  is,"  he  being  to  them  the 
very  arch  adversary  of  Romanism.  Or  the  minister  might  be  Dr.  De 
Witt,  piling  adjective  on  adjective,  each  with  its  own  shade  of  meaning 
and  sometimes  (as  I  have  heard  him)  losing  the  end  of  his  sentence ; 
boring  away,  with  his  finger  as  the  symbol  of  mental  action,  not  for 
thoughts,  but  expression  ;  of  a  dark  day  rubbing  his  hands,  talking  low 
and  doing  his  best,  and  perhaps  finishing  his  last  sentence  at  the  sofa  ; 
in  manner  indescribable  it  was  all  his  own,  but  in  matter  experimental. 


IN   LAFAYETTE   PLACE.   NEW   YORK  33 

practical,  with  a  halo  about  it  of  imagination  and  poetry.  My  father, 
now  in  the  closing  days  of  his  eighty-fourth  year,  was  then  the  black- 
haired  Junior,  with  a  style  and  manner  of  his  own,  different  from  all. 
These  four,  rotating  in  turn,  gave  to  the  service  a  wholesome  variety, 
each  in  something  supplementing  the  other;  but  they  did  more  besides 
giving  unity  to  the  Collegiate  churches  by  their  joint  action,  influence, 
reputation  and  abilities — they  made  their  church  a  power  in  the  com- 
munity. 

When  I  knew  it,  the  Fourth  Street  Church  had  a  large  congregation, 
and  one  of  the  best  in  the  city,  stable,  intelligent,  attentive.  I  remember 
among  the  elders  in  the  front  side  pew  Chancellor  Frelinghuysen,  and 
can  still  see  him  rub  his  face  up  and  down  whenever  a  child  was  baptized  ; 
Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  Alderman  Mandeville  (for  a  man  might  then — 
/.  <?.,  forty  years  ago — be  an  alderman  and  yet  an  elder),  keeping  keen 
watch  upon  the  minister's  doctrine  ;  Dr.  John  Neilson,  tall  and  alert,  and 
Abraham  Van  Nest,  who,  though  small  in  stature,  wielded  great  in- 
fluence. The  people  were  the  cream  of  the  old  Dutch  families,  some  of 
whose  names  are  yet  prominent.  And  we  sang  with  unction  out  of  the 
old  hymn  book;  perhaps  (I  remember  one  verse) : 

"  Now  back  with  humble  shame  we  look 
On  our  original  ; 
How  was  our  nature  dash'd  and  broke, 
In  our  first  father's  fall ;  " 

if  the  doctrine  was  sound,  the  poetry  sometimes  limped  badly. 

My  father  saw  the  first  service  in  the  church,  shortly  before  he  be- 
came one  of  its  pastors.  Next  Sabbath  (February  27),  when  its  services 
are  to  close,  will  be  his  birthday,  the  senior  pastor  and  sole  survivor  of 
his  earlier  distinguished  colleagues.  When  1  first  saw  it,  the  twelve  great 
pillars  of  its  front,  each  in  a  single  piece,  were  being  chiselled  in  the 
street,  a  wonder  of  their  day ;  for  which  (by  the  way)  the  Consistory 
paid  twice  over  (through  failure  of  contractors  and  prepayment),  al- 
though now  the  lessees  would  give  them  away  for  cartage.  Contrasting 
past  and  present,  by  no  means  far  apart,  I  can  apply  Shakespeare's  words 

and  say, 

"  Since  I  saw  you  first  there  is  a  change  upon  you." 

Very  truly  yours,         A.  G.  Vermilye. 


2.  The  Rev.  J.  H.  Mason  Knox,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Lafayette  College, 
Easton,  Penn.,  February  16,  1887. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Chambers  : 

The  relinquishing  of  the  Middle  Dutch  Church  (as  the  Lafayette 
Place  Church  has  been  called  in  the  latter  years)  recalls  a  remark  I  was 


34  FIFTY   YEARS   OF   CHURCH    LIFE 

led  to  make  on  the  day  of  dedication  in  May,  1839.  I  questioned  the 
wisdom  of  the  large  outlay  on  a  building  which,  in  the  onward  growth  of 
the  city,  could  avail  for  the  purposes  of  its  erection  perhaps  not  more 
than  a  generation,  certainly  for  not  more  than  a  half  century.  My  own 
years  then  had  been  very  few,  and  my  father,  to  whom  the  remark  was 
made,  bantered  me  somewhat  for  my  display  of  wisdom.  The  event 
proves  perfectly  that  at  that  moment  the  gift  of  a  seer  was  in  my  hands. 
Less  than  fifty  years  have  elapsed  since  that  day,  and  the  massive, 
elegant  building  has  served  its  whole  purpose  as  a  sanctuary,  and  is  to 
be  taken  down  and  its  site  devoted  to  business  uses.  The  title  of  the 
sermon  preached  at  the  dedication  was  The  Church  Glorious.  In  a  mere 
popular  use  of  the  adjective  that  church  was  glorious  at  the  time  of  the 
dedication  of  the  building  and  for  many  years  afterward.  The  attend- 
ance was  equal  to  the  capacity  of  the  building,  and  in  character  it  was 
certainly  not  surpassed  by  any  congregation  of  the  city.  Names  and 
persons  come  to  my  mind  very  numerously  which  will  prove  this  asser- 
tion without  comment :  Abraham  Van  Nest,  Theodore  Frelinghuysen, 
John  Oothout,  Dr.  John  Neilson,  C.  V.  S.  Roosevelt,  C.  R.  Suydam, 
James  Suydam,  L.  De  Foreest,  Jacob  Brouwer,  John  I.  Brower,  Mrs. 
Isaac  Heyer  and  her  daughters,  Mrs.  Whitney  and  Mrs.  Black. 
John  S.  Heyer,  George  Abeel,  A.  H.  Muller,  James  Myers,  David 
Graham  and  his  son  Thomas,  James  Bogart,  Cornelius  Bogert,  Mrs. 
James  Strong,  Peter  J.  Nevius,  Mrs.  Livingston,  Joseph  Kernochan,  Dr. 
S.  Hasbrouck,  James  Forrester,  Nathan  Jackson,  Henry  Haven,  etc., 
etc.,  and  the  pastors  Drs.  Knox,  Brownlee,  De  Witt  (Dr.  Vermilye  had 
just  come  or  was  about  to  come).  Three  men — how  different  in  disposi- 
tion, in  manner,  in  gifts,  yet  of  one  spirit,  and  bound  together  in  lovely 
unison.  The  Collegiate  system  was  still  in  full  practical  working  and 
in  its  results  was  shown  to  be  most  useful  to  both  pastors  and  people. 
The  change  in  arrangement  made  afterwards  was  called  for  by  the 
changed  condition  of  the  city  and  of  the  church,  and  I  am  not  vent- 
uring a  criticism  of  it.  But  up  to  the  time  of  the  opening  of 
this  church  and  for  many  years  after,  the  old  arrangement  of  rotation 
of  pulpits  and  general  pastoral  supervision  was,  I  think,  greatly  enjoyed 
by  both  pastors  and  people,  and  was  eminently  blessed  to  the  congre- 
gation in  all  its  interests.  I  believe  I  am  right  as  to  the  date  when  I 
give  December,  1841,  as  the  time  of  my  admission  to  the  full  com- 
munion of  the  church.  In  the  following  October  I  went  to  New  Bruns- 
wick to  pursue  my  theological  studies.  After  that  I  was  in  the  church 
only  when  I  might  be  passing  the  Sabbath  at  my  home,  I  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Classis  of  New  York  in  July,  1841,  My  personal  con- 
nection with  the  church  life  was  thus  limited  to  a  brief  time.  With  the 
Sabbath-school  I  had  no  connection,  excepting  that  for  a  time,  imme- 
diately before  going  to  New  Brunswick,  I  was  a  delighted  member  of  a 


IN    LAKAYF:TTE   place,   new   YORK  35 

Bible  class  taught  by  the  Hon.  Theo.  Frelinghuysen,  of  blessed  and 
fragrant  memory.  I  recollect  that  the  Sunday-school  was  well  attended 
and  well  ordered,  and  that  the  new  things  introduced  of  late  years  "  to 
interest  the  young  "  were  conspicuous  by  their  absence.  But  there  was 
faithful  instruction  and  earnest  effort  to  do  good,  and  it  was  not  in  vain. 
Truth  to  say,  I  did  not  go  very  steadily  to  Sunday-school  in  my  younger 
days  ;  my  mother  was  a  Sabbath  instructor  of  her  children.  She  held 
that  the  Sunday-school  was  an  institution  for  otherwise  neglected  chil- 
dren. Had  she  not  been  a  pastor's  wife,  and  therefore  yielding  some- 
thing for  example's  sake,  I  doubt  whether  her  children  would  have  gone 
to  Sunday-school  at  all.  She  had  been  trained  at  home  and  well  trained, 
and  certainly  she  was  the  best  theological  instructor  I  ever  had. 

It  grieves  me  to  think  that  the  church  of  so  many  holy  memories — 
where  I  first  testified  to  my  Saviour's  grace  at  His  own  table  ;  where  my 
sainted  father  for  many  years  held  forth  the  Word  of  Life,  with  a  sincerity 
and  unction  seen  and  known  of  all — aye,  often  felt  in  the  inmost  heart  of 
the  hearer — and  where  the  Lord  blessed  him  so  abundantly  in  the  home 
given  him,  as  it  has  been  given  to  few,  in  the  affections  of  the  people — 
is  to  be  removed.  I  regret  that  that  place  in  which  our  mother  used  to 
be  surrounded  by  her  children — shedding  upon  them  most  gracious  in- 
fluences, such  as  only  a  mother  of  such  saintliness  of  character  could — 
is  to  stand  no  longer,  to  call  up  from  the  past  the  most  precious  recol- 
lections. I  regret  it  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart.  For  these  reasons 
and  for  others — more  general  and  less  personal — but  why  should  I  ? 
The  men  and  women  of  fifty  years  ago,  the  pastors  and  their  people,  are 
gathered  into  a  better  house — eternal  in  the  heavens !  And  thence  there 
is  no  going  out  forever;  another  generation  has  come  in  their  place. 
The  former  house  has  done  its  work.  Rather  let  it  be  razed  to  the 
ground  than  stay  to  be  despoiled,  and  its  beautiful,  God-honoring  his- 
tory, be  tarnished,  and  dimmed  of  its  glory.  I  am  reconciled  to  its 
going,  and  I  trust  that  the  present  and  succeeding  generations,  whose  is 
and  shall  be  the  inheritance  of  the  fathers,  shall  be  as  worshipful  and 
reverent  and  holy  in  their  places  of  assembly  in  the  service  of  God  as 
they  were  whose  house  of  God  is  to  be  seen  no  more  of  men. 
Yours,  fraternally, 

JAS.  H.  Mason  Knox. 


3.  The  Rev.  Hervey  D.  Ganse,  D.D. 

Chicago,  III.,  February  21,  1887. 
Dear  Brother  Chambers  : 

You  ask  me  for  my  recollections  of  the  services  in  the  church  on 
Lafayette  Place.  My  recollections  are,  in  many  particulars,  not  only 
very  vivid,  but,  to  myself,  of  the  greatest  interest.     Till  I   was  about 


36  FIFTY   YEARS   OF  CHURCH   LIFE 

thirteen  years  old,  our  family  had  attended  Dr.  Brodhead's  Church  in 
Broome  street.  The  ending  of  his  pastorate  and  the  beginning  of  services 
in  Ninth  street,  by  the  Collegiate  Church,  allowed  my  parents  to  return 
to  the  ministry  of  Dr,  De  Witt  upon  which  they  had  for  many  years  at- 
tended, with  great  affection,  in  Dutchess  County.  Not  long  afterward 
the  church  on  Lafayette  Place  was  completed,  and  the  congregation  was 
transferred  to  that  solid  and  beautiful  edifice.  I  remember  my  boyish 
admiration  of  the  columns  of  single  stones,  which  I  had  not  yet  Greek 
enough  to  know  as  monoliths,  and  of  that  wonderful  panelled  circle  of 
the  wide  ceiling,  kissing  the  three  walls  at  the  sides  and  rear.  I  think 
the  church  was  full  from  the  first.  My  impression  of  the  galleries, 
entirely  filled  from  week  to  week,  is  very  distinct. 

Of  the  four  ministers,  Drs.  Knox,  Brownlee,  De  Witt  and  Vermilye, 
and  their  most  obvious  and  different  characteristics,  I  do  not  need 
to  speak.  But  in  one  thing  they  were  alike.  From  these  men,  and 
especially  from  Dr.  De  Witt,  to  whom  my  inherited  admiration  and  affec- 
tion give  as  high  a  place  as  a  mortal  could  hold,  I  gained  the  ideal  of 
Gospel  preaching  which  has  ruled  my  purpose  at  least  these  many  years. 
How  serious  and  tender,  how  substantial  with  Bible  meaning  and  lan- 
guage, and  how  full  of  Christ  and  the  Holy  Ghost  should  be  the  sermons 
and  the  prayers  of  a  true  minister  I  learned  before  my  nineteenth  year 
in  the  church  that  is  now  to  be  removed.  It  was  there  that  when  seven- 
teen years  old  I  was  received  into  full  communion  by  Dr.  De  Witt,  who 
had  baptized  me  in  my  infancy,  guiding  my  steps.  Less  than  a  year 
later,  with  a  letter  from  him  in  my  hand,  I  met  the  Board  of  Superin- 
tendents at  New  Brunswick,  and  began  the  study  of  theology.  I  do  not 
claim  to  be  at  all  like  those  men.  Indeed  if  they  themselves  were  repro- 
duced to-day,  they  could  hardly  live  their  former  lives  over.  But  I  am 
sure,  in  spite  of  changes,  that  if  there  has  been  any  steadfast  good  thing 
in  me,  it  dates,  under  God,  first  from  home,  and  next  from  what  we  used 
to  call  "  the  Fourth  Street  Church." 

Yours  sincerely, 

H.  D.  Ganse. 


4.  The  Rev.  F.  N.  Zabriskie,  D.D. 

Princeton,  N.  J.,  February  3,  1887. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Chambers: 

I  am  glad  to  comply  with  your  request,  and  regret  that  I  have  so 
little  to  contribute  to  your  record. 

My  recollections  of  the  "Fourth  Street  Church  "(as  our  family 
always  called  it ;  Dr.  De  Witt,  I  think,  used  to  call  it  "  The  Lafayette 
Church,"  omitting  the  "  Place  ")  are  all  bright  and  pleasant,  but  every- 


IN  LAFAYETTE  PLACE,  NEW  YORK  37 

thing  went  on  with  such  clock-worl<  regularity  there  that  I  do  not  recall 
any  abnormal  or  sensational  events.  It  was  an  eminently  conservative 
and  respectable  church.  A  new  singer  in  the  choir,  or  a  strange 
minister  in  the  pulpit,  or  a  special  feat  of  absent-mindedness  on  the 
part  of  Dr.  De  Witt,  or  a  Sunday-school  anniversary,  were  the  most 
vivid  excitements  which  I  recall.  Of  course  the  day  when  I  confessed 
Christ  there  was  to  myself  a  deeply  moving  and  memorable  occasion.  But 
it  seemed  to  be  a  matter  of  course  in  that  church,  that  the  sons  and 
daughters  should  take  their  places  at  the  Lord's  table  as  they  grew  up. 
Except  this,  I  recall  no  event  as  striking  as  Dr.  Knox's  funeral.  The 
building  was  crowded  to  suffocation,  and  the  tribute  of  respect  and 
affection  was  universal.  I  never  saw  anything  like  it  till  years  after  a 
like  scene  was  presented  at  Dr.  De  Witt's  funeral.  The  regular  Sabbath 
ser\'ices  were  always  impressive  to  my  young  mind.  The  "  rotation  " 
of  the  Collegiate  pastors  added  a  mild  sensation  and  an  element  of 
novelty.  The  ministers  usually  entered  by  the  front  door  and  swept 
down  the  middle  aisle  in  full  canonicals.  The  graceful  limp  of  Dr. 
Knox,  the  sailing  or  gliding  and  slightly  swaying  motion  of  Dr.  De  Witt, 
especially  impressed  me.  In  a  different  way  was  I  impressed  with  the 
entrance  of  Dr.  Brownlee  as  he  came  in  leaning  upon  his  daughter's 
arm,  one  whole  side  of  him  helpless  and  swinging,  and  took  his  seat 
with  no  little  difficulty  in  the  elders'  seat.  The  Exordium  Rnnotitm 
was  an  interesting  feature  of  the  morning  service,  and  is  identified,  in  my 
mind,  with  this  church.  Dr.  Knox  had  a  regular  formula  in  closing  it, 
which,  I  think,  was  in  these  words  :  "  To  a  subject  connected  with 
these  remarks  your  attention  will  be  directed  this  morning." 

It  could  not  fail  to  be  a  conservative  and  dignified  church  with  such 
a  congregation,  probably  as  select  and  "Knickerbocker"  as  ever  met  in 
this  city.  Immediately  around  my  father's  pew  (on  the  side  aisle,  too) 
there  sat  in  successive  seats  such  people  as  Theodore  Frelinghuysen, 
Judge  Samuel  Foot,  Judge  Gilbert  M.  Spierr-Augustus  Schell,  William 
M.  Vermilye,  and  others  as  reputable  if  not  as  well  known.  And  to  sit 
in  the  middle  aisle  was  quite  a  charter  of  nobility. 

When  we  came  to  "  Fourth  street "  I  was  on  the  verge  of  Fresh- 
manship  in  my  educational  career,  and  accordingly  did  not  become  very 
closely  identified  with  the  Sunday-school ;  but  as  I  remember  it  under 
the  efficient  superintendence  of  Mr.  Meeks,  it  must  have  been  one  of  the 
most  progressive  and  wide-awake  schools  of  that  period.  My  sole  expe- 
rience was  as  a  member  of  Mr.  Frelinghuysen's  Bible  class.  Among  my 
classmates  there  were  several  who  have  since  been  prominent  in  the 
Consistory  and  membership  of  the  church.  Once  a  year  the  school 
assembled  in  the  galleries,  sang  Sunday-school  hymns,  and  a  collection 
was  taken  for  its  annual  expenses.  We  big  boys  would  probably  have 
shrunk  from  exhibiting  ourselves  among  the  girls  and  "infants,"  if  Mr, 


38  FIFTY   YEARS   OF   CHURCH    LIFE 

Frelinghuysen — whom  we  regarded  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  men — had 
not  accompanied  us.  We  thought  that  if  he  could  stand  it,  we  could. 
I  have  an  impression  that  he  once  led  us  in  a  street  Sunday-school  pro- 
cession, grandly  humble  man  that  he  was ! 

F.  N.  Zabriskie. 


5.  The  Rev.  A.  M.  Arcularius. 

New  Baltimore,  February  16,  1887. 
Rev.  and  Dear  Sir  : 

When  I  entered  the  Lafayette  Place  Sabbath-school  it  was  as 
Assistant  Librarian,  Mr.  Howard  Hoffman  being  the  Librarian.  The 
Superintendent  at  that  time  was  Mr.  Samuel  F.  Clarkson.  Afterwards 
I  took  a  class.  During  the  last  days  of  my  connection  with  the  school, 
the  Superintendent  was  Mr.  Wm.  B.  Hayward. 

I  also  remember  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  connected 
with  the  church.  This,  though  not  definitely  attached  to  the  Sabbath- 
school,  was  somewhat  a  growth  from  it,  the  officers  and  principal  mem- 
bers all,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  coming  from  the  school.  Its  officers 
were  :  A.  A.  Raven,  President ;  George  Lynes,  Vice-President ;  Peter 
De  Witt,  Secretary ;  and,  I  think.  Dr.  H.  M.  Brush,  Treasurer. 

During  its  existence  it  was  instrumental  in  doing  some  good.  One 
prominent  feature  of  its  work  was  the  establishment  of  a  prayer  meet- 
ing in  East  Houston  street,  which  was  held  on  Sabbath  afternoons. 
This  meeting  was  continued  through  one  winter  and  spring,  after  which 
it  was  discontinued.  But  while  in  operation  the  evidence  of  its  useful- 
ness was  unquestionable.  The  service  was  well  attended,  and  much 
interest  was  manifested.  We  who  had  it  in  charge  were  helped  and 
strengthened  in  our  Christian  life,  and  many  who  had  been  regular  at- 
tendants on  these  services  parted  from  us  with  many  expressions  of 
regret. 

This  is  all  that  I  can  now  recall  of  any  striking  interest  in  my  con- 
nection with  the  Lafayette  Place  Church.  But  the  days  then  and  there 
spent  were  pleasant  and  profitable  days,  and  I  look  back  upon  them  with 

a  great  deal  of  delight. 

Yours,  fraternally, 

A.  M.  Arcularius. 


6.  The  Rev.  J.  F,  Harris,  D.D. 

Cherry  Hill,  N.  J.,  March  31,  1887. 

My  Dear  Dr.  Chambers  : 

My  early  associations  with  the  Lafayette  Place  Church  caused  more 
than  ordinary  regret  that  I  could  not  be  present  at  the  closing  services 


IN  LAFAYETTE  PLACE,  NEW  YORK  39 

SO  recently  held.  It  is  truly  sad  to  think  that  the  beautiful  and  sub- 
stantial edifice  is  now  only  in  the  memory  of  the  past.  I  remember  well, 
when  a  boy,  watching  with  childish  interest  and  curiosity  the  progress  of 
the  building  in  its  erection,  and  particularly  the  placing  in  position  the 
massive  granite  columns  which  added  so  greatly  to  its  beauty  and 
solidity.  It  was  my  privilege  to  be  present  at  the  dedication  of  the 
church,  and  some  instances  in  connection  with  the  services  are  still  fresh 
in  mind.  I  was  also  present  at  the  services  of  your  installation  on 
Sunday  evening  after  hearing  "  the  new  domine  "  in  the  afternoon. 

My  only  church  home  before  entering  the  ministry  was  the  Colle- 
giate Church,  and  for  a  number  of  years  before  entering  college  at  New 
Brunswick,  I  attended  regularly  the  Lafayette  Place  Church,  and  there 
are  many  very  pleasant  reminiscences  of  those  years.  The  church  then 
was  at  the  height  of  its  prosperity.  The  Sabbath  services  were  very 
largely  attended,  not  only  in  the  morning,  but  also  in  the  afternoon  and 
evening,  as  for  a  time,  if  I  remember  correctly,  three  services  were  held 
on  the  Sabbath.  It  was  not  an  unusual  occurance  for  the  afternoon 
audience  to  be  nearly  as  large  as  in  the  morning.  1  love  to  think  of  the 
men  of  precious  memory  who  preached  in  that  marble  pulpit,  so  sug- 
gestive, in  its  pure  white,  of  the  purity  of  the  gospel  preached  from  it 
for  so  many  years.  At  that  time  Drs.  Knox,  Brownlee,  DeWitt  and  Ver- 
milye  were  the  Collegiate  pastors,  and  preached  in  rotation,  and  were  re- 
garded as  among  the  first  pulpit  talent  in  this  city.  I  remember  also 
hearing  in  that  pulpit  such  men  as  Drs.  Bethune,  Ferris,  Fisher,  Harden- 
bergh,  Hutton,  Lillie,  Milledoler,  and  others  of  good  report,  who,  in  their 
day,  were  of  the  more  prominent  of  our  city  clergy. 

The  prayer  meetings  of  the  church,  although  not  as  largely  attended 
as  they  should  have  been,  were  always  interesting  and  profitable.  Well 
do  I  remember  some  of  the  leaders  of  those  meetings,  abundantly 
qualified  to  conduct  the  services  to  the  edification  and  profit  of  those 
who  were  present.  The  Hon.  Theodore  ^elinghuysen,  with  his  few 
words  of  exposition  or  exhortation,  we  were  always  glad  to  see  in  the 
leader's  chair.  Then  we  had  Jacob  Brouwer,  Thomas  Jeremiah,  Morti- 
mer De  Motte,  and  others,  men  of  more  than  ordinary  gifts,  who  con- 
tributed much  towards  making  the  meetings  attractive  and  edifying. 

My  recollection  of  the  Sabbath-school,  although  I  was  not  identified 
with  it,  is  that  it  was  in  a  very  prosperous  condition,  composed  alto- 
gether of  the  children  of  the  church.  An  aunt  of  mine.  Miss  Marie 
Ferguson,  who  died  at  my  house  about  a  year  and  a  half  ago,  at  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  eighty-four  years,  was  a  teacher  in  the  school  for  a  time, 
and  manifested  a  great  interest  in  its  welfare,  as  well  as  in  the  prayer 
meetings  of  the  church.  She  always  retained  her  membership  with  the 
Collegiate  Church. 

I  have  written  you  thus  fully,  my  dear  brother,  because  of  the  in- 


4°  FIFTY   YEARS   OF  CHURCH   LIFE 

terest  I  have  always  felt  in  the  Lafayette  Place  Church  growing  out  of 
these  early  associations,  and  to  assure  you  of  that  sympathy  and  regret 
that  I  feel  with  yourself  and  so  many  others  that  circumstances,  ap- 
parently unavoidable,  have  brought  about  the  giving  up  as  a  place  of 
worship  the  consecrated  House  of  God,  in  connection  with  which  there 
will  always  be  so  many  pleasant  and  precious  memories.  With  best 
wishes  and  great  respect. 

Yours  very  truly, 

J.  F.  Harris. 

II. 
Officers  of  the  Schools. 

The   Superintendents   of  the  Sunday-school,    so  far  as 
can  be  traced,  were  as  follows : 

James  C.  Meeks, 
Charles  Devoe, 
Thomas  Jeremiah, 
Thomas  Earle, 
William  B.  Hayward, 
Samuel  F.  Clarkson, 
James  W.  Hamilton, 
Henry  Demarest, 
Arthur  P.  Sturges, 
Alexis  A.  Julien, 
William  H.  Van  Arsdale, 
Neilson  Olcott, 
Allan  C.  Hutton, 
Wiley  J.  Canfield. 

first  directresses  of  the  industrial  school. 

1861.  Miss  Anna  A.  Hoffman, 

1862.  Mrs.  Helena  Rogers, 

1863.  Miss  Josephine    Oothout    (afterwards 

Mrs.  James  Bowen), 
1877.  Miss  Kate  Frelinghuysen. 


IN  LAFAYETTE  PLACE,  NEW  YORK  41 


III. 

Organists  and  Sextons. 

The  music  of  the  church  during  its  first  years  was 
under  the  charge  of  the  accomplished  organist,  Mr.  GEORGE 
W.  Morgan.  Afterwards  it  was  committed  to  one  of  his 
favorite  pupils,  the  late  JOSIAH  N.  KING,  who  served  the 
church  with  great  fidelity  and  success  for  twenty-seven 
years.  He  was  about  to  enter  into  its  communion  when  a 
sudden  and  severe  attack  removed  him  after  a  few  days'  ill- 
ness. His  loss  was  long  and  sorely  lamented,  for  he  not 
only  performed  well  his  duties  in  the  organ  loft,  but  ren- 
dered very  ef^cient  and  willing  service  during  the  week, 
and  whenever  called  upon  by  any  of  the  Associations  con- 
nected with  the  congregation.  The  size  and  character  of 
the  attendance  at  his  funeral  in  January,  1884,  was  a  fair 
expression  of  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held. 

It  may  justly  be  said  that  the  Middle  Church  has  been 
unusually  favored  in  the  character  of  the  persons  who  have 
filled  the  position  of  sexton.  They  were  only  two  in  num- 
ber. Of  the  first,  ARCHIBALD  C.  BRADY,  who  was  in  office 
when  I  came  to  be  one  of  the  ministers,  I  remember  to 
have  often  heard  my  colleagues  spea?c  in  the  highest  terms 
in  respect  to  his  ability,  efficiency  and  courtesy.  They  said 
that  he  left  them  nothing  to  desire.  Similar  testimony  will, 
I  am  sure,  be  cheerfully  borne  to  his  successor,  TllOMAS  De 
Witt  Dunshee,  by  all  who  have  had  occasion  to  meet 
with  him  in  his  official  relations.  Nor  should  I  omit  to 
make  kindly  mention  of  Philip  Baxter,  who  for  thirty 
years  has  been  the  faithful  and  attentive  assistant  sexton. 


42  FIFTY   YEARS  OF  CHURCH   LIFE 

IV. 

The  Corporation  in  1837. 

ministers. 

The  Rev.  JOHN  Knox,  D.D. 

The  Rev.  William  Craig  Brownlee,  D.D. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  De  Witt,  D.D. 

elders.  deacons. 

Samuel  Allen,  Theophilus  Anthony, 

Peter  Brower,  David  Board, 
Lawrence  V.  De  Foreest,  Jacob  Brouwer, 

David  L.  Haight,  John  I.  Brower, 

Cornelius  Heyer,  John  W.  Cooper, 

William  Mandeville,  Henry  Dougherty, 

John  Neilson,  George  C.  Satterlee, 

Peter  Sebring,  James  Simmons, 

James  Van  Antwerp,  James  Suydam, 

James  Ward,  Reuben  Van  Pelt, 

William  Westervelt,  Peter  R.  Warner, 

John  Wright.  Dow  D.  Williamson. 

officers. 

Cornelius  Bogert,  Clerk. 
Isaac  Young,  Treasurer, 
Office,  192  Broadway. 

Of  the  foregoing  there  are  at  present  only  two  survivors  : 
one,  Mr.  James  Simmons,  now  of  Paterson,  New  Jersey  ;  the 
other,  Mr.  Peter  R.  Warner,  for  many  years  the  Treasurer 
and  afterwards  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Direction  of 
the  corporation  of  the  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  in  Amer- 
ica. 


IN    LAFAYETTE    PLACE,    NEW    YORK 


43 


V. 

The  Corporation  in  1887. 

ministers. 
The  Rev.  Thomas  E.  Vermilve,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
The  Rev.  Talbot  W.  Chambers,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
The  Rev.  William  Ormiston,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
The  Rev.  Edward  B.  Coe,  D.D. 


elders. 
Henry  W.  Bookstaver, 
Robert  Buck, 
John  S.  Bussing, 
Peter  Donald, 
John  Graham, 
Frederick  R.  Hutton, 
Lewis  Johnston, 
Frederick  T.  Locke, 
Ebenezer  Monroe, 
Ralph  N.  Perlee, 
Henry  Talmage, 
Charles  H.  Woodruff. 


deacons. 
Gerard  Beekman, 
William  L.  Brower, 
William  C.  Giffing, 
William  P.  Glenney, 
Francis  T.  L.  Lane, 
Charles  Stewart  Phillips, 
William  V.  V.  Powers, 
Charles  A.  Runk, 
Charles  H.  Stitt. 
CuMMi^GS  H.  Tucker,  Jr., 
Joseph  Walker,  Jr., 
Frederick  F.  Woodward. 


officers. 


George  S.  Stitt,  Clerk. 
TheoPHILUS  a.  Brouwer,  Treasurer, 

Office,  113  Fulton  street. 


WM 


**>; 


PAMPHLET  BINDER 


Manufactuttd  hu 

GAYLORD  BROS.  Ire. 

Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

Stockton,  Cali(. 


BX9517.5  .N5IV16C43 

Fifty  years  of  the  church  life  :  an 

Princeton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00043  2361 


